Sunny Shelly’s Review: The Relationship Pact, by Adriana Locke

THE RELATIONSHIP PACT by Adriana Locke
Release Date: December 17th

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Blurb:
How hard can it be?

That was the question rolling around Larissa Mason’s mind just before she asked Hollis Hudson to be her fake boyfriend.
It was only supposed to be for five minutes, after all.
Granted, that was also before she felt his hand on the small of her back as he charmed the heck out of her family.

She hadn’t heard his laugh yet either.

And it was definitely before she saw the football god shirtless. Otherwise, she would’ve had an idea of just how hard some things could be.
It turns out that pretending to be in love with a crazily handsome, somewhat enigmatic, and absolutely unforgettable tight end (that has an amazing tight end) is easy.
Reminding herself that just because opposites attract doesn’t mean they’re forever is much harder.

What they have isn’t love—it’s a relationship pact. Right?

Sunny Shelly’s Review: 5 Stars

The Relationship Pact is the third Kings of Football book in a collaboration with Adriana Locke, Ilsa Madden-Mills and Meghan Quinn. This third installment focuses on Hollis, and brilliantly ties the new character in to the worlds of Locke’s Mason family series and Landry family series.

The book takes place in the days between Christmas and New Year’s, in the same time frame as Crew and River’s books. Hollis has gone to Savannah to receive an award for the volunteer work he does with foster kids, and is spending a few extra days there since he has no family to spend the holiday with. He meets sassy, funny Larissa at a bar when she asks him to pose as her date to get her ex-boyfriend off her back. They hit it off immediately, and since Hollis needs a date for a dinner with Lincoln Landry and Larissa a date for her stepdad’s gala event, their relationship pact is born.

Besides the agreed-upon dates, Larissa and Hollis begin spending more and more time together, and fall into an easy routine. It’s not hard for him to imagine seeing more of Larissa in his life, and that kind of freaks him out. Having been raised in the foster system, Hollis is used to being alone and not trusting people. He’s funny and sweet, but lacks self-confidence and doesn’t think he has anything to offer a girlfriend. He’s afraid to get close to people because he’s always left behind. Larissa, meanwhile, has dated alot of jocks and had sworn off all athletes before knowing that Hollis was a college football player. Her insecurities about being second-best to the game come into play when Hollis walks away from her after a freak-out. But despite the fact that they only spent a few days together, Larissa knows that there is a wonderful, sweet, loyal man behind that fortress he’s put up and vows to fight for him.

The breakup scene left me a teary mess. And the make-up scene was magnificent. Hollis really finds a family in loving Larissa, and I loved how this couple’s HEA worked out! My only complaint is that I wish that Hollis would have explained the significance of When You Wish Upon A Star to Larissa; I was really hoping to see that scene. Oh well. Besides that, The Relationship Pact is a perfect fake-romance story!

I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.

About the Author:
USA Today and Washington Post bestselling author Adriana Locke lives and breathes books. After years of slightly obsessive relationships with the flawed bad boys created by other authors, Adriana has created her own.

She resides in the Midwest with her husband, sons, and two dogs. She spends a large amount of time playing with her kids, drinking coffee, and cooking. You can find her outside if the weather’s nice and there’s always a piece of candy in her pocket.